Jasprit Bumrah: The Leading Men's Cricketer in the World in 2024

India found themselves in some tight spots in 2024. England led the Test series after a stunning win in Hyderabad. Pakistan needed just 40 off 36 balls during a T20 World Cup group game. Later, in the final, South Africa needed an even more gettable 30 off 30. And, in November, on the opening day of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Australia rolled them over for 150. Crucial matches, crucial moments, but all with the same outcome: a crucial intervention from Jasprit Bumrah, and a famous Indian win.

In Visakhapatnam, he floored England No. 3 Ollie Pope, literally, with an inswinging yorker that knocked out middle and leg stumps, and turned the Second Test - and the series - on its head. In New York, with the world watching, he flummoxed a well-set Mohammad Rizwan. In Barbados, the trophy on the line, he dislodged Marco Jansen's leg bail with a rip-snorter, and opened the gate for India during a two-over spell that cost only six. In Perth, he inspired his team with a breathtaking burst on the first evening, to set in motion an awe-inspiring victory.

It was all Bumrah. It was always Bumrah. In an eventful year for Indian cricket, their success depended largely, if not entirely, on one factor: whether or not he had the ball. Rarely has a cricketer stood out so overwhelmingly as he did in 2024. It was Bumrah or bust.

He began the year with 19 wickets at 16 in four Tests against England, on pitches that were either docile or spin-friendly. And he ended it with 32 at 13 in five in Australia, the most by an Indian seamer in a Test series. Meanwhile, he took 11 at 12 against Bangladesh. He finished 2024 with 71 Test wickets: no one had ever taken more in a calendar year at a lower average than his 14.92, nor at a strike-rate even close to his 30. It was no coincidence that his one quiet series, at home to New Zealand, came in a 3-0 defeat.

In between his Test heroics, he was player of the tournament at the T20 World Cup, with 15 wickets at eight and an economy-rate of 4.17. Thanks in part to his brilliance in Bridgetown, he also walked away with a winner's medal - India's first at an ICC event since 2013.

Everyone knew he was among the best fast bowlers of his generation, but now he forced his way into the conversation about the best of all time. Had he actually become the best? After all, in Australia he was the first to reach 200 Test wickets at an average below 20. He was that irresistible.

And he did it all while rarely losing his smile, dominating opponents with a sense of inevitability and nonchalance. He never seemed to exude much menace, which somehow made him more menacing. Take his wicket celebration, hands thrown in the air with a big grin, as if to tell his latest victim: "What else did you expect?"

Along the way, Bumrah summed up his approach as succinctly as he set up batters, telling The Indian Express: "Aggression has a lot of meanings. I realised that it's not necessary to be angry or go overboard. There have been great bowlers who have not said a word, but their actions speak. When I want to intimidate, I don't need to say anything. My ball can do the talking for me."

In 2024, it spoke every time it left his hand at the completion of that inimitable action - the straight left arm, the hyperextended right, the springy wrist, the slingshot release, all allowing him to deliver the ball from closer to the batter than normal bowlers managed. A new verb entered cricket's lexicon: after Australia opener Usman Khawaja was dismissed six times by him during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, he claimed with a smile that he had been Bumrahed.

Bumrah himself added to his own affable allure: "Sometimes people come smiling to me and say: 'Go easy on me.' I find that funny, because I can't figure out whether they are being serious or trying to play some game." Despite everything, he is a fast bowler who struggles to believe that opponents don't want to face him.

In the absence of Rohit Sharma at Perth - in India's only win of the series - Bumrah also provided an advertisement for fast-bowling captains.He described his ilk as "smart people", contrary to the old stereotype. After the year he had enjoyed, how could anyone disagree?